Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1. A Brief Contextual Survey of Disability in Society and Theology. 2. The Role of Qualitative Research in Intellectual Disability Theology. 3. Issues of Theological Language. 4. Theological Objections and Possibilities. 5. Arguments from Scripture. 6. The Mystical Experience of God. 7. Conclusion. Bibliography.
A challenging Christian theological perspective on the spiritual experience of people with profound intellectual disabilities
Dr Jill Harshaw teaches Practical Theology in the Institute of Theology, Queen's University Belfast. She is a key contributor to the Centre for Intellectual Disability Theology and Ministry based at Belfast Bible College which offers opportunities for graduate research, training for faith groups around the inclusion of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families, and advocacy on relevant ethical and ecclesiological issues. Jill's passion for disability theology is stimulated by her daughter, Rebecca, who has profound and complex intellectual disabilities.
God Without Words probes deeply into the methodological and
theological obstacles to understanding the spiritual experience of
people with profound intellectual disability to discover we have to
ask even more primordial questions about how God reveals Godself at
all. The result is a wide-ranging scriptural, philosophical, and
theological inquiry into the God who would be perceived by human
flesh despite the limitations of cognition. What was intended as an
intervention in the arena of intellectual disability has ripple
effects in Christian theology as a whole.
*Amos Yong, professor of theology & mission, Fuller Theological
Seminary, and author of Theology & Down Syndrome: Reimagining
Disability in Late Modernity (2007)*
God Beyond Words has significance for and beyond studies in
theology and various experiences of disability. Jill Harshaw
provides new insights into the spiritual lives of people with
intellectual disabilities and she challenges us more broadly to
rethink how diverse spiritualities can be researched. This is a
very important book that should be read as widely as possible.
*Dr Wayne Morris, Associate Dean, Faculty of Humanities, Head of
Theology and Religious Studies, University of Chester, author,
Theology without Words, co-author, Making a World of
Difference*
Jill Harshaw offers a stimulating book which will interest all
people who accompany others in their experience of faith as growth
in trust, as well as emergent belief. It will appeal beyond those
already familiar with disability theology among Christians and
others.
*Health and Social Care Chaplaincy*
This challenging and potentially life-changing book is both a
tribute to what Harshaw's daughter has taught her, and testimony to
the power of theology to illumine the lives and lighten the load
for those whose duty of care can also be, by God's grace, a
positive joy.
*Church Times*
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